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Another Fine Tune has always been one of my very favorite albums with it's beautifully relaxed vibe that belies all that's going on melodically, IMO it has some of Gowen's very best playing. I get a somewhat similar vibe from Two Rainbows Daily although the atmosphere is quite different with only bass and keyboards esp. when Hugh turns up the fuzz.

I say good on Mr. Ratledge for knowing when to hang up his hat rather than repeat himself or re-visit the past. He did his thing and achieved near something near mythic. I think is was Jimi Hendrix that suggested the he plug his organ into a fuzz/distortion box, if I remember correctly and the rest is history. Passages man.

There are more stars in the visible universe than there are grains of sand on planet earth.

Another Fine Tune has always been one of my very favorite albums with it's beautifully relaxed vibe that belies all that's going on melodically, IMO it has some of Gowen's very best playing. I get a somewhat similar vibe from Two Rainbows Daily although the atmosphere is quite different with only bass and keyboards esp. when Hugh turns up the fuzz.

I say good on Mr. Ratledge for knowing when to hang up his hat rather than repeat himself or re-visit the past. He did his thing and achieved near something near mythic. I think is was Jimi Hendrix that suggested the he plug his organ into a fuzz/distortion box, if I remember correctly and the rest is history. Passages man.

Nice

I really get a better appreciation of Rutledge more and more as time passes. A beautiful player (and composer). Vol. 2 is one of my fav Canterbury albums on some days (like today again), well after Rotters Club of course. Just magical. I can't get enough of that one. Its really nice to spin these albums roughly the same time every year now, makes it very special. Bloody good.

I had not really appreciated that Gilgamesh record until very very recently - like the last six months.
I mean, it had Hugh - of course it was good - but I didn't play it much and it never made much of an impression. Seemed too laid back. Or some other flaw I can't really think of now that I am not feeling that way!

well, whatever needed to happen happened, because it's been killing me these last months. Really lovely.

so I salute your selection.

SALUT!

That Gilgamesh LP was in the very first package I ever got from Wayside Music circa 1987. I bought it not knowing a thing about it, but there was something about the way it was described in the printed Wayside catalog that caught my eye. Played it recently as I’ve been grooving hard on the recently reissued Ian Carr/Don Rendell Quintet LPs which feature Trevor Tomkins on drums in his pre-Gilgamesh post-bop days.
I remember playing the Gilgamesh album quite a bit when I first got it...a favorite late-night spin as it has that vibe, but the tunes are knotty enough to avoid it ever becoming background music. Terrific stuff.

Views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent those of Sony Music

Alright... Just finished listening to Robert's '68 CD: my first Canterbury disc of the new year and my contribution to the binge. Absolutely the peak of his creativity (IMHO of course). There are many later moments that could also be argued as peaks. But the light-hearted, soulful, playful magic is here more than anywhere else in his career.

As for Gilgamesh, I'm really curious now. I own both Gilgamesh studio discs but since my move to Iowa two years ago I can't find them! And I probably have not listened to either one for a decade or more. I only have Arriving Twice, which is great, but need to go back and listen to the orginal releases.

One of the better Jon Anderson lyrics; I wish he'd included it on Topographic.

It's on the missing third record (Side 5) called "The Kitchen Appliance of Cod". Side 6 was left blank intentionally and is to be played with all 5 other sides simultaneously. It was a group effort. Ask Jonny.

Fucking Greaves is a Fucking Monster. He even makes a Neil Murray look like an amateur boy picked from the streets (and I love Neil).

He may be a better player overall (debatable?) but there isn't one single nano-second on National Heath where I'm saying to my kids "Oh man, I can'r wait for Greaves on the next one....". To me he plays beautifully and serves the tunes/album perfectly.

As far as who is better than who or what-have-you, this is thorough-composed ensemble music, with room for improvised parts and for 'putting eyebrows on the music'.

While distinctive voices are important and the music allows great and distinctive voices to shine and be 'themselves', and put their own version of eyebrows on, ultimately, this, like all composed music, needs people who are interested enough or good enough to perform it. Even if they aren't particularly 'quirky' (like Neil Murray), he played his parts extremely well and got inside the music and allowed it to be a great album.

Doesn't really matter who came next or what-have-you. He was the bassist at the time and he did great and we are all lucky that he was there to be in that band and make the recordings he is on.